Understand your IP, and set statis IP address to ensure constant internet supply

How to know if you have statis or dynamic IP ? If you just type in password and connect to the internet, you will get dynamic IP.

Different between dynamic IP and statis IP is that, dynamic IP may changed after you restart your PC, while statis IP won't change. Dynamic IP is assigned to you by DHCP at modem, and usually your IP will be the same if no one else took your IP. When I stay at hostel, there's so many students sharing same internet, so bad that DHCP can't assign empty IP for me and other students. We have to type in static IP, and we need to try a lot of times for that. Why? Let me explain.

As an example, see picture embedded. I have set my IP to be static. My static IP is 192.168.1.103. The 103 is a unique number for me, so the person who share internet with me have to take other number. They will have to use 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.1.2 ... until limit at 192.168.1.254. This means that there's a maximum of 255 people can share the same modem, but there's very rare that this will happen for normal use.

IP address 192.168.1.x is given by ISP, and you need refer your modem for that. Different modem may have different numbers.

Below IP address is Subnet mask. It normally is 255.255.255.0, by which your PC will auto fill in for you.

Default gateway is the node to connect to the internet. It provides an entry point and an exit point in a network. It's provided by ISP, and it's "the number that connect to internet". When you type http:// , eg http://192.168.1.1 for me, I will be able to access modem and edit its settings.

DNS server is a server to help you find a website. For example you type www.google.com. Internet won't understand, because it's in abc. Also, google website is in numbers too. Try run "ping www.google.com" and you will get numbers instead of abc. DNS help to to access to google by changing www.google.com to 209.85.175.147 . You can always type 209.85.175.147 in address bar to access google, but you will have problem to remember those numbers. So DNS help you to access the page without the need for you to remember them.

My first choice DNS server is 192.168.1.1, which given by my ISP. It has lowest ping, thus will 'decrypt' faster for me, thus increase my browsing rate. My second choice is 8.8.8.8, which is a google DNS server. It's quite low ping for me too. You can run a test to determine best DNS for you here.

Remove Ads at MSN and YM easily.

Ever wonder how to remove those annoying ads at the bottom and footer of MSN and YM, where you accidentally clicked it, and it opens at browser? I have this problem until I saw the solution at
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2011/03/27/remove-ads-from-bottom-of-windows-live-messenger-2011-conversation-window/

The blog says that there's a patch for it to remove those ads, called A-Patch
http://apatch.org/. I used it and it works very well, moreover, A-Patch has more options to break the limit of editing MSN. Now we can say goodbye to Ads.

Install Microsoft Office 2007 at Ubuntu without hassle.

Microsoft Office can works on Ubuntu, with Wine (Windows 'Emulator' for Linux) which is still in beta. But, it is not stable enough.

If you are looking for stable version of emulator, I recommend CrossOver. CrossOver is a software for Linux and Mac, which allow several famous Windows, eg Office 03,07, to work flawlessly at Ubuntu platform.

CrossOver comes in simple GUI, and you can install CrossOver easily if you're already familiar with how to install software on Linux. You can always google steps if you encounter any problem, which has a lot of easily available solution.

CrossOver is a shareware, means you need pay for it. If you don't wish to buy, you can go to www.warez-bb.org and search for it.

To install Office 2007 at Ubuntu, you need Office 2007 installer and CrossOver. First, install CrossOver. Then browse for CrossOver program, and there has step-by-step instruction on how to install Office 2007. Optionally, you can search for CrossTie for Office 2007, which is a file to tell CrossOver how to install Office 2007 (.inf file for Microsoft Windows).

The screenshot should have a dock named docky below there, but I "Windows Dodge" mode it to make windows for viewing bigger. At Mac OS X, the bottom there just specialised for their dock function only.

Macbuntu - turns your ubuntu to very Mac OS X like

I have posted that I dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu at previous chapter. Not long ago, I stumble upon Macbuntu, which claims that it can make your Ubuntu looks like OS X. Due to a lot of positive reply, I decided to try.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/macbuntu/

Above is the link where I download macbuntu. The compressed file is in .tar.gz form. Extract it using embedded Linux decompressor to obtain a folder named Macbuntu-10.10. Inside got a file name install.sh. Open terminal (command prompt in Microsoft Windows). You can google for instruction on how to open the file in terminal, but I prefer simple way, that is drag the install.sh into terminal windows, then press enter.

You will be prompt to type your password to get root privilege, since Macbuntu reform your Ubuntu to very deep level. There'll be some question for you, and you should press y for yes and enter to continue with default selection. After that, it will auto restart.

You can see the screenshot at the homepage. It's easy to uninstall too, just drag uninstall.sh into terminal and you're back to Ubuntu original theme. It does what it claims and hopefully Kylebaker, who create Macbuntu even OS X alike than Mac4lin will continue his project.

Took forever to load when open "Devices and Printers" at control panel

It happens to me last year, that is when I open Devices and Printers in control panel, it hangs there loading , and keep loading ... It just won't end. Luckily, I google around and found the solution.

The problem arise when you have bluetooth port opened, but the support service is not started. It causing system can't open properly.

Well, you can solve that by run "services.msc", then search for "Bluetooth Support Service". The status should be empty, and Bluetooth Service above it is started. Double click on Bluetooth Support Service, change the Startup type to Automatic, then start the service. This means that this service will start everytime you turn on your computer. After that, apply and Ok.

Now, go to open "Devices and Printers". You should can now open it without problem.

"Program not found - skipping autocheck" during boot

Have you ever annoyed by the nagging page during booting up your program, eg. Autochk.exe not found- Skipping autocheck. Well, I am kinda annoyed by those and I got a solution on how to remove those.

First, run "regedit" which stands for register editor. Press ctrl+F, or optionally go Edit at menu bar, then select find.

Then, search the name of the program that nagging you during start up. For example, Autochk.exe is the one not found, so find it at register. You may searched several autochk, but don't simply delete, because it may cause system instability.

You will found autochk, that have description that saying 'boot' sort of that, not remember really since it's quite some time this happen to me. The description will like saying this will boot during start up. Delete this registry. After that, restart, and the nagging page will gone.

If you scare it will mess up your system, since editing in registry can cause severe system damage, you can backup your register first. Right click at folder beside there that link to the autochk.exe, then export, save at your desired location. You can always import back the register by double click the saved registry in case your system have problem.

Play snakes at Youtube

If you boring wait slow youtube load, play snakes at there first. Belows are the steps:

1. Open a youtube video in your browser.
2. Press pause.
3. Press the left button and hold it for a few seconds.
4. When you see snakes at youtube, release the left button and enjoy playing snakes.